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Plans are to be announced by the Department of Health for a system to be put into place to offer women independent counselling before committing themselves to having an abortion.

The move is designed to give women more ‘breathing space’, according to pro-life campaigners and could result in as many as 60,000 fewer terminated pregnancies each year in the UK.

The plan would offer a mandatory obligation on abortion clinics where women could receive independent counselling, which would be arranged on separate premises by a group who do not carry out abortions.

People who are not in favour of abortion clinics say the counselling that is currently offered by them is biased because they are run as a business. This is a claim that clinics rigorously deny.

There is set to be a vote in the House of Commons ahead of the proposed change, on amendments to a public health Bill that was put forward by Conservative backbench MP, Nadine Dorries. The...

Women, who have fallen pregnant and turned to pregnancy counselling centres run by faith-based and anti-abortion organisations for help, are the victims of inaccurate information, scaremongering and emotive language according to a pro-choice charity who conducted an undercover investigation.

There are hundreds of crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs) that offer counselling and advice independently of the NHS. The government has announced that they are considering handing the counselling role to independent organisations, which could see them take over work carried out by abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).

The undercover investigation was conducted by researchers for Education for Choice, a pro-choice charity that provides education and training about abortion. It was operated in 10 centres run by Christian and anti-abortion organisation, throughout which it was discovered that there was a wide...

Government statistics show that the number of abortions among women over 40 has risen by more than 30 per cent in a decade, reports the Telegraph.

According to government statistics, the number of women aged 40 and over who have had an abortion has risen by almost a third since 2000. Last year alone a total of 8,179 over 40s made the decision to terminate their pregnancy, 650 of whom were over 45, and 21 of whom were over 50.

The figures include those of women who had actively tried to become pregnant in their 40s, but opted for a termination after screenings disclosed a high risk of abnormalities such as Down’s syndrome.

Figures also revealed that the highest number of abortions were carried out before 12 weeks, which is the time at which the first antenatal screening is due to take place.

Today marks the beginning of a High Court battle which could lead to a controversial change in abortion laws.

As it stands, women who are in their fist nine weeks of pregnancy and choose to undergo an early medical abortion must take two sets of tablets between 24 and 48 hours apart under the supervision of a doctor or nurse at a hospital or clinic.

However, Britain’s largest abortion provider is proposing changes which would scrap these rules and would allow women to take the second pill in her own home, rather than returning to a hospital or GP.

Though this is actually common practice already in many other countries such as the U.S, Canada, France and Denmark, experts over here are concerned that self administering the tablets could lead to complications.

Many women who have a termination don’t realise they run risks of subsequently giving birth to premature and low weight babies.

With a 35% increased risk of a low birth weight baby and a 36% raised risk of a pre-term baby in later pregnancies for those who aborted in their first or second trimester, surely this is a huge green light for increasing counselling services for those considering abortion.

Dr Prakesh Shah, author of the review, published today in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said that she believes there is a strong need for women to be counselled about the risks of terminations before making an informed choice.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists explained that it wished to underline the importance of support for women’s choices and the need for sensitivity in counselling women about termination of pregnancy in line with current research evidence.

According to official figures for England and Wales, the number of abortions among girls aged 16 increased by 10% in 2007 to 4,376. According to an article on the BBC, the number of abortions in the under 16s has risen by 27% in the past decade.

Gill Frances, chair of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, said “We need high quality sex and relationships education at school and at home and effective contraception.”

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said “Contraception plays a vital role in preventing teenage pregnancy and earlier this year I announced a further investment of £26.8m to improve women’s access to contraception and help reduce the number of abortions, repeat abortions and teenage pregnancies”.